Week 17 I'm Going to Be a Father

I'm Going To Be a Father

Got a call last night from our mission president. When I looked down and saw that it was president Fortuna calling I nearly peed my pants and quickly handed the phone to Elder Vail, assuming it was about changes for him. They talked for no less then 5 seconds before he handed the phone back to me and said he wants to talk to you.... umm ya hola presidente.. lol for real I was so nervous. But I’m going to be a trainer! So excited and so nervous. I wont get the new missionary until the 7th of next month, which is the same day I finish my own training. So funny to me. Someone must have told president my Spanish is better than it really is. More than anything I'm really excited to teach a fresh missionary and set the standard for his mission. I will always remember my time here with Elder Vail and what it feels like to be the new guy that doesn't know his left from his right in a whole country. 

Another unforgettable thing that happened this week; I got to see my family for the first time. Or more importantly hear them. Really is so special to see them after these last few month with only doing what I am right now, writing. I cried like no other. Literally could not get the words out of my mouth. Families are so special to me and I will try my whole mission to try and share that concept, of an enteral family, with the people here in Honduras. 

Found some carpet this week and a few other things can’t remember but ya here are some pictures. 

Week 16 Christmas and Blind Dudes

Families and Christmas 

Spent a lot of time writing people just now so I don't have a lot to write here. Things are really different here in Honduras than back home. We have these little cards called "El es la Dádiva" it has a link to this sweeeet video that the church put out. The church really is so bomb at making videos I love it. We have been passing them out all month and only two people out of like 300 had internet. Really just brought me back to the fact that I'm in a different place and how different the living standards are. This all being said i have really been thinking a lot about how blessed I really am. I've always grown up with a love family, Christmas morning, presents, cousins, cars, snow, all that stuff around christmas time. No one here knows any of that stuff. It's just stuff that is in movies to them. Really forcing me to focus on what is important and what this time of year is really about. 

Elder Vail and i were walking in this super poor area this week and it was around 8 so its super dark. We see this kid that we all ways see in the dumpsters collecting bottles just holding this guys hand. And I'm like oh my gosh you have got to be kidding me he is blind. Turns out this dude is like 70 and is blind and his kid that is kinda special needs takes care of him. We walked him back to his house. 

No more time for me this week, but I hope that little story makes you think about how blessed you really are. We have NO idea what its like, or at least I didn't, living in the little christmas wonderland that we all have. Think more about what you have and what you can give. 

Elder Thorn 

Grant explains Christmas in Honduras:   The Christmas here is a different world. Kids don't get anything. Or really do anything. They set up lights and a tree and that is the present. Oh and they light fireworks. 

This is Jose a lil convert

Bought all these ties for 5 bucks

Week 15 Chirstmas Parttttyyyy

Car Crash, Isaac, Christmas Madness

One of the things that sucks the most about the mission is there is no way I could every type everything that happens in a week. Or really everything that happens in just a day here. I think this is the factor behind time in the mission going by so fast. Because it really feels like yesterday that I was writing.

First thing first we had a baptism of Isaac this Saturday! Really strange situation because he goes to this different ward and the bishops get all weird about stuff like that here. It's like they forget it's all the same church. Anyways he comes from the family that works with the trash. Every time we teach him I always end up thinking what in the world did I do to be so blessed. His whole family came to the baptism and it was so freaking awesome. They all got dressed up and looked so good. I got to baptize him and it just really reminded me of Cannon. 

HUGE car crash in my area this week. Elder Vail and I were ridding on this bus to go get a key for the church. The road got all backed up and we sat on the bus for awhile. After like 15 minutes we said screw it and started walking. I saw about 50 people all crowed around and this semi had rolled over on the hill with two cars under it. People pass on blind corners here like that is the only time to pass. There was around eight ambulances all trying to get there but everyone is just all over the road so they couldn't. Really frustrating for me to see. Because I could see this girl bleeding all over and all these people just watching but impeding the ambulances. Really just a conformation that I am in a different place than home. 

Christmas party was awesome. We watched frozen IN ENGLISH!! Yes lol first time I have heard english anything in awhile which was nice. We gave gifts and I got some skittles which was sweet. lol get it sweet. They have american candy here its just expensive. Hope everyone is enjoying this time of year because I know I sure miss the snow and lights and all that stuff. But at the same time being away from it is teaching me a lot about how ungrateful I have been my whole life. 

ELDER THORN 

Isaac's baptism

Caught a glimpse of Grant on the mission video.

Week 14 The Legend that is Elder Holt

Service Projects

I now know what it feels like to be on the discovery channel. We did a service project this week as a zone digging this trench for a water pipe. We all wore these yellow helping hands vest things that the church gave us. So you have about 6 gringos in bright yellow vests digging in the middle of this road in Honduras. The only thing that can come from this is a flock of Hondurans coming to watch gingos work. Really funny I, kid you not, we were digging this trench and all these people just come and stand about 30 feet from us just watching us. Like uhhh why are they digging? I thought all gingos were rich? This was a really funny experience for me. To just kind of realize what the people here think about the states. 

Another really humbling experience I had this week happened with the little eight-year-old kid we are baptizing on Saturday. His name is Isaac and he lives right next to all this trash. His family pulls stuff out of the trash and sells it. I wrote about this before so I’m no going to waste time retyping it. Anyways they have no money. Like none they live in a house made of trash and they sells trash. After a lesson with him the other day his mom is like hey wait I have something for you. She hands us these crackers. Probably about 30 limps worth. And they tell us to follow her one son. We go up there and he has apple juice for us. Probably about another 30 limps or so. I honestly almost started crying walking home. This family that has literally nothing was giving me food. 

Elder Holt is this kid form California that is a beast and is my new zone leader and is teaching me a lot about how to just be a good missionary. He has better Spanish that some of the litos I kid you not. I just wanted to write about him for a second. 

Love you guys Elder Thorn

No pictures because I forgot my cord(:::

Mom's side note- I asked grant to explain his church building/meetings. Here's his response:

We have a really nice church building. It's in this weird little gated community. Its hard to describe. They have them a lot here. Basically someone builds a fence and then pays two guys to sit by it with shotguns and thats a gated community. But ya super nice church building. Has nice fans on the ceiling for when its hot. Our ward is super new though and so everyone does weird things. Like the first counselor has been a member for like a year. So when they bare their testimonies its just a little different. We had 121 people at church on Sunday which is bomb. 

Week 13 Wazzz Good

No History No Holidays

Lol the title is a joke. On the real though, Honduras just kind of celebrates everyone else’s holidays. I’m trying to be nice with that though. So that means no thanksgiving, but they do have black Friday!! I totally forgot about thanksgiving till we were in the maxi and the TVs were like 800 limps (40.00) and we were joking about buying one. Electronics here are really reallllllyyyy cheap. Everyone we visit will have a big 50-inch Samsung TV on the wall. No matter if they live in a little tin box that some church built. They have to have a TV, kind of sums up the priorities here. 

Well no baptism for two weeks now, which is kinda hard for me. We have this amazing book that testifies of Christ and his plan for us but people don’t want to read. I would say that’s the worst part about the mission. When you bare testimony of Christ and the testimony that of the book of Mormon and people are like thanks dude but I’m not going to read it lol you think I have time for that. Really though its super hard to get people progressing when they cant even read it. 

That being said we have the cutest little kid that is going to baptized on the 13th. His name is Isaac and he’s part of the family that lives next to the trash. I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not. But his family literally pulls stuff out of the trash and sells it on the side of the road. Really humbling every time we teach him. We legit sit next to the main highway with all the cars rushing by and all the trash all over that smells sooooo bad. And then some how he is just smelling out of his mind. Only the Gospel can do that. Only the Gospel can bring true and lasting happiness. Cant believe it’s December already. So strange. Also my face is a lot better.

Oh put up our hammocks too, which made me really happy about life.

Elder Thorn 

Week 12 Temple and Such

Working like Doggs 

I’m in one of the biggest zones of the mission. This has a lot of benefits and a lot of down sides. First off its dope because we have a lot of exito (success) and we always have people to go teach. Or we can go to an area and find people. The down side is that we are expected to have a lot of success. And really we are expected to carry the other zones that aren’t as good. This being said its the end of the year so its freaking nuts.  They want everyone to have 3 and 1. 3 People 1 family. Now people here really aren’t hard. Families however are a joke. First off no one is married, ever. I haven’t met a single person that isn’t a member that is married or even has thought about marriage. When people get married they have to go to where they were born and get their papers. This is really expensive. Like 80 dollars or more. Most people in my area live off about 150 dollars a month ish. There are some richer parts obviously. But ya so we have to pay for weddings. And when I say we I mean me. Which kinda sucks, because you really don’t want to marry two people and then baptize them only to have them go inactive. That all being said, we have this family that really wants to get baptized but the dad makes me mad. he just has this attitude that the church is a bank and ya whatever. 

Other story I went to the temple this week and it was amazing. Well kinda went. I got to stand out side (: we had stake conference and it was at the church right next to the temple. It’s a really amazingly gorgeous temple. It sits on this huge hill in Honduras and legit anyone is Tegucigalpa can see it. Most people we teach are like ohhh the Mormons I know you guys you guys have that huge building and you read some book jose smith wrote. Its great lol. Really love it here. The people honestly are really great for the most part. People just don’t like to change, even if they know they need to.

Last thing and I’m going to try to type this as respectively as I can. Miss Honduras got shot and killed. It was a pretty big thing on the new here and people were freaking out. Long story short her boyfriend said something to some drug guy and he had them both killed. But when they found the body they just put it in the back of a truck and put a tarp over it. I happened to be in a member’s house, our ward mission leader who is a boss by the way, and saw the video of it. Really reminded me of just how much the people here need the Gospel. 

Forgot about thisssssss we had a fireside thing this week. It was soo awesome. At first I was really sad to be honest. I got really caught up in things I use to do before the mission and how much I miss going up the canyon. But after a few people shared their testimonies I realized where I was and what I was doing. I will put a few photos and what not.  

Staying alive staying alive oh oh oh oh ohhhhhhh

ELDER THORN 

Elder Vail and Me

Honduras temple in Tegucigalpa

Fireside